SE Asia Stocks-Rise as pace of U.S. rate hikes seen slowing after jobs data

* Risk appetite returns after U.S. nonfarm payrolls data

* Singapore gains most in Southeast Asia

* Thai shares rise for first session in nine

By Aaron Saldanha

March 12 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets rose on

Monday, tracking Asian peers, after chances of the U.S. Federal

Reserve hiking interest rates four times this year dimmed

following data that showed jobs jumped and wage growth slowed in

February.

Inflation worries faded on Friday after U.S. data showed

nonfarm payrolls jumped by 313,000 jobs last month, but annual

growth in average hourly earnings slowed to 2.6 percent after a

spike in January.

The pullback in wages tempered speculation the Federal

Reserve would project four rate hikes - or dot plots - at its

policy meeting next week, instead of the current three.

Asia-shares ex-Japan climbed 1.1 percent,

their third session of gains.

On Friday, the three major U.S. indexes rose more than 1.5

percent.

"I think the latest data points are positive for markets. We

are starting to see a move back to risky assets like equities,"

said Joel Ng, a research analyst at KGI Securities in Singapore.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore's benchmark rose as much

as 1.9 percent, following gains of 0.2 percent last week.

Conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd rose

as much as 3.4 percent, extending gains after results last week

showed profit jumped more than 50 percent.

"You can see that there is growth in most of its business

segments like Jardine Pacific and Jardine Motors," said Joel Ng

of KGI Securities.

Malaysian shares rose about 0.7 percent, with CIMB

Group Holdings Bhd, up 1.4 percent, contributing the

most to the index gains.

The country's banks will continue to perform well in 2018, a

Moody's report showed on Monday.

The Philippine index rose 1.1 percent, after ending

the previous week about 1 percent lower.

SM Investments Corp rose 1.5 percent.

Thai shares climbed for the first session in nine as

financials and energy stocks gained. PTT Pcl was 1.9

percent higher.

Indonesia's benchmark was up, with financials and

consumer discretionary stocks helping the index higher. Bank

Central Asia rose 1.3 percent.

Indonesia has capped the price of domestic coal for two

years.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS: CHANGE AT 0350 GMT

Change on the day

Market Current Previous Pct Move

close

Singapore 3537.01 3485.57 1.48

Bangkok 1789.42 1775.37 0.79

Manila 8463.84 8372.51 1.09

Jakarta 6470.523 6433.322 0.58

Kuala Lumpur 1856.78 1843.92 0.70

Ho Chi Minh 1131.97 1123.41 0.76

Change on year

Market Current End 2017 Pct Move

Singapore 3537.01 3402.92 3.94

Bangkok 1789.42 1753.71 2.04

Manila 8463.84 8558.42 -1.11

Jakarta 6470.523 6355.654 1.81

Kuala Lumpur 1856.78 1796.81 3.34

Ho Chi Minh 1131.97 984.24 15.01

(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)